Stalking Law Implemented Today

November 25, 2012

Very pleased that stalking legislation comes into being today. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 was originally designed to tackle stalking. However, it was so broad that serious stalking cases were being dealt with in the same way as an argument over a hedge and the like. This meant that lives were still put at risk because victims were still not taken seriously enough. Because the word “stalking” is now a legal term, it means that stalking victims can go to the police and be treated as a victim of stalking, not just harassment, which is where the confusion lay. There is still much work to do, but this will hopefully go a long way in giving victims the help they need.

Please see the media today and tomorrow (Monday 26th November) for more information.

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Its great news! i saw another solicitor on tuesday after researching her on the web,she’s involved in womens aid, she is also sending a letter to local Police, as well as stalker,so i have some hope at last, after being told nothing could be done, by police, solicitors,… and she has said i should not lock myself in as i have done for the last 4 months,its just a shame i did not know to go to her after He tried to talk to me in June, there would be an Injunction in place Now!…just felt no-one could help me, and he would kill me one day…I m at home alone with My Autistic son,i am disabled too, last year in October he spoke to the Local community officer about how the Stalker was upsetting me, she had been trying to get him to speak to her for 6 years!!!….This has been happening to me for 7 years.

As a victim of whatever this is, I’m not happy with the dismissiveness of harassment in this post. “Not just harassment”, harassment seeming to you to mean “an argument over a hedge and the like”. Seriously, I’m very disappointed with your approach.

It’s hard enough to get the police to concede that one is targeted by malevolent, sadistic, terrifying offenders at all let alone giving them these further excuses to do nothing. As i’m sure you and all victims know, the police will use any and every excuse to do nothing.

As a target of stalking/harassment, I even find that the new law makes it more difficult for the police to deal with the offences to which I am subject. This new law was sold as including offences which were understood to be harassment. It all seems a more of a dog’s breakfast to me, worse rather than better.

I really do think that the stalking/harassment support industry MUST now get together with victims and expert lawyers to agree proper terminology and definitions which actually do make the police act and which are respectful to victims as well as reflecting the sheer nightmare of being under chronic attack.